Loneliness is a silent killer that has the possibility of affecting anyone; no matter how sociable they happen to be or what stage they are in their life. Often loneliness is not taken seriously enough, in itself it is not dangerous, but what is dangerous is the effects that it can have on an individual. These dangerous effects are both physical and mental.
In this article, we are going to be looking at the question of how does loneliness affect a person?
Terrible for Your Mental Health.
Loneliness is not good for your mental health; everyone deals with loneliness at some point in their life. The chances of a person who is lonely developing mental health issues depend on factors such as whether the person is already experiencing mental health issues.
In such a case, loneliness will further exacerbate these mental health conditions as it will reduce the ability of the patient being able to seek help. Additionally, the amount of time that the individual has been lonely is also a major factor in the development of mental health issues.
Long-term loneliness is known as chronic loneliness, it can lead to mental problems among other types of issues in the individual experiencing it.
Your mental health includes your emotional and psychological wellbeing, having mental illnesses can affect how you interact with people as well as how you react to all kinds of situations in your life.
You may be able to subconsciously understand that the way you are acting is actually wrong. However, it is the easiest way to live your life using bad actions as a form of stress relief.
Humans are social creatures, that need to interact with other people, this is why in many countries around the world it is not legal to keep people in solitary confinement for long periods of time.
Not Coping in the Right Way.
Moreover, the people who are suffering from loneliness can turn to dangerous methods of coping such as alcohol and other substances.
These substances are bad for the body and can lead to short-term as well as long-term damage to important parts of the body such as the lungs, brain, and heart. Such a method of coping can also lead to addiction, what will lead to further isolation.
Another coping mechanism that some individuals may adopt is the start gambling, this can be an exciting and seemingly rewarding way to spend your time. Some of the sufferers may see it as an opportunity to make gains that will help them to leave the current period of isolation in their life.
However, statistically, the gambling company will be the winner, the majority of the time. Even if hypothetically, a gambling addict manages to win, they will continue searching for that addicting high that people experiencing when gambling in order to distract themselves from their real life.
Giving up and Losing Interest.
It can also have the effect of making somebody give up. When a person gives up on life and stops caring about improving themselves, this can be detrimental as it will stop them from progressing in life. This can lead to a lot of time lost, which a person will end up regretting later on, such as not working on your education or expanding your skill set.
Furthermore, by giving up you can miss on a lot of key opportunities that will benefit various areas of your life such as meeting your soul mate and also a career opportunity at a leading firm in your chosen field. This is a very dark period in a person’s life, in which it is important to support them or if you are the one affected to seek support.
Feeling Tired.
A surprising answer to the query of how loneliness affects a person is constantly feeling tired. A reason for this is that people who are lonely will likely not have an organized life, since they are less likely to be in employment and also taking part in social events.
Due to this, they are likely to feel a lot less tired when they are going to sleep which makes it harder for them to fall asleep. Therefore, these lonely individuals will wake up tired and will suffer from irregular sleeping patterns, which further contribute to feeling tired.
Moreover, oversleeping can also make you feel tired, this is because it messes up your deep sleep cycles. Oversleeping does not simply mean that you are sleeping for a long time. It also means that you sleep more than you need to.
For example, if you are sitting all day watching television then your body will not need as much sleep in order to recover. It is also not a trivial matter, oversleeping has been linked to diabetes, obesity, and also heart disease.
Lack of Confidence.
Furthermore, individuals that have gone through long periods of isolation will begin to lose confidence. This will be because they start to doubt their ability to interact with others and functioning in social settings.
After all, being social is a skill in itself that requires training and practice. The lack of self-confidence will also likely be translated to other areas of the sufferer’s life.
Confidence is an important component that someone needs to have in order to be able to take care of the many challenges and problems that come up during someone’s life.
Agitation.
The lack of ability of someone to interact with other people that value what they say and do is a major loss of an outlet to share your frustrations and other feelings. Thanks to this, people who are lonely will feel and act very agitated due to the anger and irritation that they have been building up all of this time.
Such an effect acts in a way that prolongs the amount of time that the individual is lonely as it makes them less of a pleasant person to deal with. Moreover, it will make it much harder for someone to function in the real world, as your emotions will prevent you from making the right decisions or overcoming minor issues.
Loss of Sense of Reality.
A major answer to how loneliness affects a person is that it can lead them to lose a sense of reality. By not interacting with other people, you have no one to shape your views, which can lead to that particular individual having extreme views.
These extreme views will work to further isolate them. They can also lead to the lonely sufferer feeling resentful of other people and the world, who he may see as the sole reason for their isolation, although the main reason may be themselves.
It is important that if you are feeling lonely, to take action such as joining social clubs or sports clubs. Being isolated is not something that will go away by itself, you have to take action and make sure that you stay positive.
Read the article: Is There a Friendship Between a Man and a Woman?
